ExxonMobil has announced that it is preparing to drill a further offshore well in its deep water Stabroek Block this month, located about 100 miles off the Guyanese coast. The announcement comes as industry analysts and the international media have begun to recognise that Guyana is likely to become a major western hemisphere oil producer following earlier finds in the same area.

The announcement of the new well, known as Snoek-1, follows confirmation in January this year by the company of good-quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs in its Payara-1 well, and in May of last year, of what it described as a “world class” find in its nearby Liza well.

ExxonMobil has also formally confirmed that its second well, Payara-1, was drilled in a separate unconnected reservoir to its Lisa-1 well on the same Stabroek Block.

Referring to the Payara field discovery, which is about 10 miles northwest of the 2015 Liza find, ExxonMobil stated that “this important discovery further establishes the area as a significant exploration province,” and that it looked forward to continuing to evaluate “the broader exploration potential on the block and the greater Liza area.”

The company also said that appraisal drilling at Liza-3 had found an additional high quality, deeper reservoir directly below the Liza field, which is estimated to contain between 100150m oil equivalent barrels.

The finds are expected to turn Guyana into a leading oil producer in the Americas, with experts already forecasting that in the Liza field alone there could be as many as 1.4bn barrels of oil, as well as reserves of natural gas.

In early 2016, Guyana’s Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, announced the Cabinet’s approval of a proposal to establish an onshore oil and gas logistics and supplies facility reflecting Guyana’s almost total lack of infrastructure to service an offshore industry or to process crude oil…

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